Walking The Straight Path

Walking The Straight Path

No matter how beautiful it looks

It may appear to be so tempting

However, I am not the kind to walk the straight path

There should be no end to my journey

Yes, I will walk where I am told

But I will not stay on the path that was chosen for me

My eyes and mind will look carefully

Trying to find side trails for me to travel

Ones that will take me to the unexpected

Take me into futures I could have never imagined

I want it to be my choice which path I take

No matter where it takes me

No matter how long it takes me to get there

I will accept my fate

Because, no matter what, I will not walk the straight path

The Little Girl Cried

The Little Girl Cried

That day was hard for that little girl

All her friends were going to be there

Sharing the day with a father who loved them

They all told stories about their lives

Their jobs and who they were

She stood there alone waiting for her turn

She heard them insulting her father

Calling him names

Saying he didn’t love her because he was not with her

She never cried

Not one single tear

When her time come she took her place

Through the murmurs she stood strong

Her father did love her

She recounted so many memories

The stories he told her as she fell asleep

When he taught her to ride her bike

The day he left for the last time

Still, she knew he was thinking about her

That he still loved her

Finally, the room became quiet and tears flowed

She explained that her father went to fight a war

He went to defend her in the only way he knew

And he died saving another soldier’s life

At that moment everyone stood and saluted

Honoring the man they had just condemned

Then, for the first time

Since the day her father didn’t come home

The little girl cried

The Girl I Used To Know

The Girl I Used To Know

I know what I wanted to say

The words were there

My mind thought out just what to say

They have been there so long

But, when I see you they disappear

Other thoughts take their place

Memories of you from long ago

When you were in my arms

When my eyes looked into your heart

And I saw you for who you really were

Tee shirts, pony tails and thick framed glasses

You are no longer the woman I kissed

The one who owned my heart and soul

Over the years you changed

Your face and hair became too beautiful

Your body became a statue of a goddess

Flawless, perfect beyond belief

You chose diamonds and designer gowns

Your choices ruined the girl you used to be

You became too good for a poor country boy

A boy from the wrong side of the street

But you know that this boy never changed

I still remember and dream of you

However, I will keep my words hidden deep inside me

For now I will just look at you and remember

When you were just the girl I knew a long time ago

Cries of the Street

Cries of the Streets

Tonight the sky is darker than  normal

A blackness where even the shadows go into hiding

Still,  creatures roam the streets

Looking for those who will challenge their reign

Cries fill the sidewalks and alleys

Screams of pleasure and pain

The wails of the Banshee collecting it’s souls

Women stand on the corners looking

Men prowl looking for their next conquest

Sirens take away the dead and dying

While babies cry for their long lost mothers

Thus, it is life in the city

Where hope fades with the sun

And life in just not to be lived

It is just to be survived

Freedom For One

Freedom For One

One out of many

Not like the others

There is an open feeling of rebellion

It watches and learns

Seeing what it didn’t want to see

A life it could no longer live

A million doing what they are told

Sharing movements and thoughts

Free yet controlled

Unable to think for themselves

One out of many

Breaks away

Spreads its wings

Refuses to obey

It lets its mind take flight

Going places the others cannot imagine

It is free of its bounds

Free to live

One F'n Word

One F’n Word

One word

Just one word

Keeps me from sleep

Makes me grind my teeth

And cry like a girl

I can’t use it

It just isn’t right

I can’t replace it

No other says what I want to say

Just the way I want to say it

The thesaurus doesn’t work

The dictionary isn’t any help

I would love to take a drink

Smoke up so I can forget

Suicide might help

But that word would still be there

Haunting me into my next life

I started writing to relax

It worked for way too many years

Then I wrote that word

That one word

Someday I will put that writing on a drive

To work on something else

That one F’n word will stay with me

Calling to me when I am not thinking

Maybe someone who reads this poem will know

They would have been through it

They would have had their own word

And they would have worked it out

And maybe they would be happy

With their own one word

Just Say No

Just Say No

Look at the embers

The smoldering remnants of a lost world

Destroyed by arrogant world leaders

Mere children fighting over their toys

Arguing over the size of their manhoods

How did they let it go so far

How could we not say that is enough

Did we believe the lies they told us

Someone somewhere should have said no

Took the children and spanked their bottoms

And sent them to their rooms

If just one person would have stood up

Denied what they were told and thought for themselves

Children would be playing kickball in the streets

Mothers would be nursing their babies

And songs would be sung

Instead, look at the embers

Think of everything we have lost

And someone please…JUST SAY NO

Mud of the Mind

Mud of the Mind

Thousands of years of mud

Wrapped around my legs

Struggling to reach my mind

To force me to see a reality I didn’t create

Others decided what I should see

What I should hear

And what I should believe

I want to be free of their mud

The ideas they approve of

The thoughts they want me to have

I do not believe their visions

That Cinderella was a good girl

The Wicked Witch was evil

They may have been right

They may have been wrong

Once the mud they created is gone

My mind will tell me the truth

And I will see a reality

Maybe one they cannot accept

But for me it will be true

And that will be all that matters